Elena Gladysheva, Managing Partner of RI-Consulting, answers the following questions: How to legally prepare an apartment for sale? What documents should be on hand in advance? What documents should be drawn up later, when a potential buyer has already been found?

How to legally prepare the apartment for sale? What documents must be on hand beforehand?

What needs to be done before signing the contract:

1. Obtain an extract from the Unified State Register of Real Estate (EGRN) on the main characteristics and registered rights of the property. You can use it to find out the owner of the object - the seller, as well as information on the existing encumbrances (mortgage, prohibition on registration actions, etc.). The extract must be received no later than two weeks prior to the date of the contract.

Important: Since July 15, 2016 the Certificates of State Registration of Rights to Real Estate have been abolished. After this date the title to the property is confirmed only by an extract from the Unified State Register of Real Estate.

2. Prepare documents on the basis of which the right of ownership was acquired
3. Prepare an extract from the house book (can be obtained from any Multifunctional Public Services Center at the location of the property), or a certificate from the management company. From these documents you can find out about the presence / absence of persons registered in the property.

Important: if someone is registered in the purchased object, it is necessary that the seller removed these persons from the registration before concluding the sales contract. Otherwise, the buyer will have to evict these persons and remove them from the registration in court (in the case of their disagreement).

Prepare a notarized consent of spouse or notarized statement that there is no registered marriage.

5. If the contract is signed by a representative, a power of attorney is required (notarial power of a natural person or a regular power of attorney with the seal and signature of the general director of a legal entity). The power of attorney should include the power to sell a particular object, the price of that object (fixed or at the discretion of the representative), the power to submit documents for state registration with the registering authority (Rosreestr). You can check the validity of a notarial power of attorney in a special service on the website of the Federal Notarial Chamber of Russia.

If a contract is signed on behalf of a legal entity by the sole executive body, it is necessary to check its compliance with the information specified in the Unified State Register of Legal Entities (EGRYuL). In judicial practice, there are cases when a person (representing the CEO) who is not the CEO at the time of the transaction acts on behalf of a legal entity.

It is also desirable to request a certificate that the counterparty is not registered in the psychoneurological and narcological dispensary. Check the counterparty for a pending bankruptcy case, which can be done on the Arbitration Courts website (KAD Arbitrator), in one of the information systems (SPARK, CASEVOOK, etc.), as well as in the Unified Federal Register of Bankruptcy Information (EFRSB).

What documents should be done later, when a potential buyer has already been found?

It is necessary to prepare a legally competent contract of sale:

- specify in detail all the characteristics of the object: cadastral number, address, floor, purpose and area;

- the full value of the object, as well as the order of payment (money is transferred through a safe deposit box, a letter of credit, a transfer or in cash). In any case, it is recommended to get a handwritten receipt from the seller after the settlement. It is important to specify in the contract the full value of the object, and if there are several objects - specify the value of each object separately;

- specify details of the seller and the buyer (date and place of birth, passport series and number, name of the issuing authority, as well as the date of issue, subdivision code and registration address);

- specify that there are no claims on the apartment from the spouse (the person is not married or the object is not jointly acquired property, and that there is a notarized spouse's consent to its alienation);

- a condition that no bankruptcy proceedings have been initiated against the parties, and that there are no debts and/or any other outstanding obligations that may lead to bankruptcy;

- indicate that the parties are not deprived of legal capacity, are not under guardianship or trusteeship, do not suffer from diseases that prevent them from understanding the essence of the contract, are not registered in the psychoneurological and narcological dispensaries, when signing the contract they act voluntarily, there are no circumstances forcing them to conclude the contract on extremely unfavorable conditions for themselves.

A real estate sale and purchase agreement is drawn up in a simple written form, in copies for each party to the agreement and one additional copy for the Rosreestr.

In addition to the sale and purchase agreement, a deed of transfer must be drawn up.

All copies of the contract with the transfer act must be bound and signed by each party on the stitching. All copies of the agreement must be submitted jointly by the parties (or by proxy) for state registration through the Multipurpose Center.

Notarization of an agreement on sale and purchase of real estate is required only in the case of alienation of a share in common shared ownership.

In addition to notarization, prior to alienation of the share to third parties, the seller must offer the other owners of the property to purchase their share, or obtain their refusal to purchase.

As a rule, a notary provides full support of the sale-purchase transaction, including notifying the other owners independently. Certification of this agreement by a notary is convenient due to the following.

The notary will check the powers of the parties or their representatives at the time of the transaction, request all necessary documents, as well as independently obtain excerpts from the Unified State Register of Real Estate, and verify the owner. The notary will obligatorily require the consent of the agent's spouse for the conclusion of the transaction or a declaration that there is no registered marriage. The notary will also be required to verify the legal capacity of the parties by obtaining information from the Federal Registry Office that the parties are not registered as legally incompetent. Upon additional agreement, the notary may also independently send the sale agreements for state registration to Rosreestr in electronic form, and afterwards notify the parties and deliver them copies of the agreements with a certified sheet on the state registration carried out.

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